Unsaved Progress
by Imagination12
Summary: She's been living this life over and over. She goes to sleep on May 2 only to awake on September 1, ready to go to school. She knows what will happen. She knows how to navigate the system. Now all she has to do is puzzle everything out. It's time for another try, but she's determined to find a way out. No one will get in her way.
1. September First

She slowly surfaced from the eternal darkness of a peaceful dream, the details slipping from her grasp as sand on a beach does. A strain of music looped through her mind in the remnants of the dream, but she couldn't clutch it to see which one it was. Most mornings she would shoot straight up in bed in an attempt to keep herself from falling back to sleep and being late, but as her wits returned to her, she continued to lie there with eyes closed. Her heart rate began to climb from its slow, calmed state to the point that she could hear the blood pulsing through her veins. She prayed to any gods that may exist. She willed it with every fiber of her body. It had to be May 3. It had to be.

She swallowed hard, the lack of moisture in her mouth from sleep causing the movement to be difficult. Every so slowly she allowed her eyes to slip open, blinking away the film in front of her eyes as her vision cleared. She stared at the familiar pale blue ceiling, the one her father had painted for her as a baby. He wanted her to feel like the sky was above her, shining and bright even in moments of darkness.

Well, this was a dark moment. She willed it, once more, to be May 3, praying to the pale sky colored paint that had begun to peel in places over the years. Surely some of horse nature could be channeled to make sure it was May. It had to be. She had finished. She had finished so many times.

She quivered as she rolled from the bed, nearly smacking her head against her night table before she caught herself and stood up straight. She stretched, postponing her glance at the calendar beside her bed. She was terrified. What if it wasn't May? What if it was September, again?

Only now did she realize the irony of the song she had been dreaming about. She couldn't help but sing out a bar, barely moving her lips and exhaling ever so slightly to whisper, "_Wake me up when September ends._" When would these September awakenings cease? Hopefully now, but… No. It had to be now. She was sure. Steadying herself and clutching the edge of her bed spread so tightly the blood retreated from her knuckles, her eyes slowly shifted to the calendar.

It was so innocent. A calendar covered with flowers that a friend had gotten her as a gag gift for her birthday. With a small flower adorning the day, she gazed at the date. Her eyes unfocused as tears dripped down her face, and she quietly restrained a sob, the hand that had been clutching the comforter moving to clutch at her mouth.

September 1. She was going to start at Iris Academy today. Again. After all the effort she'd put in. After the blood, sweat, and tears she'd shed, the universe still refused to let it be May.

She flung herself onto the bed, weeping as quietly as she could into the pillow. For a split second the idea of suffocating herself ran through her mind, seductively suggesting that she'd never have to see this again. She used this to lever herself out of this negative spiral, letting her complete rejection of the idea motivate her to stop the tears entirely.

She hadn't been declared a horse without reason. Even if this would continue to happen, she would find a way to get out. She would find a way to leave the loop and continue. Somehow she'd awaken in May, and a no self-respecting horse would stop until then.

She quietly padded to the bathroom, carefully avoiding her parents' bedroom door and scrubbing her face clean as soon as she entered, soothing herself with the heat of the water. She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror. If she hadn't known better, she'd have thought that the red rimming of her eyes was like the rest of her face, slightly pink from the intensity of the cleaning. Brushing her teeth, she took a deep breath through her nose and steadied herself for what was to come.

Rinsing out her mouth from the toothpaste, she spit into the sink the same way a pro boxer spits blood. Her head snapped up, staring herself dead in the eye. With as much force as she could muster at such a low volume, she stated to herself, "You will find a way. You will get out of this." The sureness of the girl in the mirror almost convinced her that she was right; she would find a way out.

The key word was almost.

But, before she went to school, she decided to make this year a little different from the rest. She gazed at her reflection, or rather the reflection of her long, waist length brown hair. It was slightly straighter than it used to be because it had finally gotten to the length where its own weight had caused it to transition from curly to wavy.

She grabbed a pair of scissors from inside a nearby drawer along with a hair tie. Deciding she'd clean up the ends and make things look pretty later, she pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, brought the scissors back, and… _Snip. _With that lock of hair she detached all of the sorrow, all of the regret, all of the failure. She stared down hardened brown eyes. She was ready.

* * *

She was a wildseed who would be moving into the Horse hall this year as a freshman. She had brown eyes and shoulder length curly brown hair. Once upon a time, she would have collided with a certain strict teacher. She would have gazed upon the buildings in wonder. She would have reveled in the fresh, clean air on a bright end of summer day, becoming just distracted enough accidentally encounter him.

But she wasn't that girl anymore. She had changed. Successive years had transformed her from a once ditzy schoolgirl to a reserved scholar. She felt vulnerable without her glasses on, but she knew she could buy a pair from the mall in a couple of weeks. Until then, she'd just have to deal with it.

On this day, she whisked by the male teacher, not even sparing him a glance as she made her way to her dorm room. He didn't glance at her either, and they both went on their ways. Once upon a time, she'd collided and found herself in trouble. Once upon a time, she'd thought he was completely unreasonable for giving ten demerits for a simple slip up.

But she wasn't that girl. That girl was clueless and naïve. She was ready for anything this school could throw at her and then some. She was ready for the school year to begin and no one—no_thing_ either—was going to stop her in her journey. With the diary in her bag, she entered the halls of Iris Academy.


	2. September First to Sixth

Thank you to Rachel Scavo for reviewing so quickly. I really appreciate it!

* * *

When she stepped into her dorm room, she felt a slight stab of pain in her heart upon seeing her new roommates: Ellen, the sweet, studious blonde wildseed with a family who didn't want her, and Virginia, the feisty, playful witch who loved sports, sweets, and who was babied by her family and butted heads with her brother, Donald. She'd gotten to know these two so well over time, but she couldn't help but suffer on the inside upon the lack of recognition in their eyes. They had all grown so close so many times, but every year it seemed like they got wiped, as if their memories were simply deleted. They were the same people, though, and her heart ached to see her close friends act exactly the same but without the knowledge of her existence.

"My name is Ellen," her fellow blonde wildseed approached her with a kind smile, "Nice to meet you." For a moment, she had no idea how to respond. But then instinct took over; she'd faked so much of her interactions in the past years that she didn't have to think about it. Her body simply took over for her.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm your new roommate," she even gave a fake smile, though the expression didn't reach her eyes. If she had to guess, Ellen would interpret the lack of a full smile as exhaustion from a long trip or maybe stress from going to a magical academy. She would sympathize with this new girl that she didn't know through the sign of a false smile. Ellen was ridiculously nice sometimes, though she was willing to be loud with her views when she needed to be. Sometimes she even spoke out against the rules of the magical universe.

"Hey, don't leave me out of introductions!" Virginia added, jumping into the conversation and introducing herself as well. Virginia was just like she always was, so proud and in charge, shoving her way to get what she wanted. She wasn't going to let anyone stop her from doing anything, even if she risked acting over-aggressive or rude. Virginia was passionate and courageous, a true example of a Horse Hall girl, even if she was pretty lazy about cleaning her room. She fought past the her natural weaknesses to produce an internal strength that no one could best.

She introduced herself quickly to Virginia as well, and when the two offered to have her go meet Donald with them, she turned them down. She figured that she'd meet Donald later when they signed up for clubs, but this time around wouldn't be focused on pursuing him. Or at least, she didn't think it would. She hadn't thought too far in advance yet about what this year would bring, but she doubted it would be following the Donald path.

Getting her things unpacked, she contemplated her recycles and what to do this time around. She decided to play it safe and "try out" all of the classes right away, even though she had mastered those classes multiple times now. She didn't want Professor Potsdam on her case about not having enough magical classes or not trying all the types for the first exam.

After she finished unpacking, she quickly showered then headed to bed early. Tomorrow would be the beginning of the school year, again. She'd have to go through all of her plans and figure out what the focus of this try would be.

Somewhere inside of her, she felt like doing something spectacular, like setting off fireworks all throughout the school without getting caught or sending a fake love letter to Virginia from her favorite senior Balthasar that she couldn't magically trace (easily). She quietly chuckled to herself in bed, conscious of making sure she didn't awake the other girls, who had also gotten ready to sleep. With all these plans for pranks, maybe she would stay with Donald this year. Who knows? With vague plans on her mind, she fell into a deep sleep to prepare for the year ahead.

* * *

She chose her classes without care, just drawing a line across the schedule to select the order: White, Black, Green, Blue, and Red. She didn't have a preference for any day. Sitting through classes was ridiculously boring, especially red and blue at the end of the week. She couldn't even space off during Grabiner's classes. He'd get all upset and in her face about it, and there was no explanation for a wildseed who knew all the answers already. Maybe if she were pedigree she could get away with it, but as far as her teachers, or anyone really, knew, she had never taken magic classes before now.

The week passed agonizingly slow, her classes dragging on and on and on. She spent most of the time trying to learn how to sleep with her eyes open, though she only had marginal success. Her memories began to surface in all that empty time, and she nostalgically began to dwell on some of the happier moments: the first time she made a snowman with Donald and how it had ended up covered in fake vegetable blood, her date with Damien at the strange magical restaurant when she'd decided to let him order for her, learning about Ellen's secret conspiracy and feeling the rush of doing something possibly illegal.

Unfortunately though, she could only think of the past for so long before she fell to her negative attempts. All the regrets surfaced: the time she joined the Rose and the Wasp, when she failed her exams for lack of fore-planning while trying a path of studying a specific magic, and the biggest regret of all, her first year. She was filled with disappointment every time she thought about her first year here. Her personality was probably better, less serious and quiet, but she didn't have the knowledge she had now to make the right choices. She'd made every mistake to be made.

That was the first time she took Damien's path.

She had been a fool. A young, love-struck fool who believed that love would overcome all. That year was the year that started it all, the year that began the loop. She had tried to fix Damien. In the next five successive loops, in fact, she'd continued trying to fix things. She'd given up by now though. She'd tried everything she could think of to fix him. They'd even made things work, getting together at the end of the year after he was kicked out.

There was no way to make him a better person. She could never stop him from trying to steal her soul, or someone else's, at any of her tries. He seemed to be fated to fall, fated to get kicked out for illegal magic. By now she had given up. Maybe he had started the cycle, but he certainly wasn't the solution. She was confident of that.

Well, she was 99% sure. That was the way she was going to go out if nothing else worked, after all. When she had given up on life and trying to exit the cycle on her own power, she would give him her soul and use him as a way to suicide out. But that was her last try, her last choice if she could no longer take life anymore. Hopefully it would never come to that, but these years had led her down dark roads.

This was a new year, though. This was no time to think of her mistakes. Now was a time to admire the late summer weather and frolic outside. Well, maybe not frolic, but certainly enjoy her time. Pain was something that brought her into the cycle, not pulled her out. Though, she should only have fun to an extent.

She knew from experience that getting kicked out just started the cycle earlier. She'd go home and, even with wiped memories, the next morning she'd wake up to find herself back at September 1st. Her memories of getting her mind wiped were a little patchy and strange, but she could still remember the rush of magic passing over her mind and destroying her memories.

How the cycles were formed, she still had no idea. Hopefully this cycle would be the one to crack the code. She knew already that the professors wouldn't be a help in getting out of the loop. From what she'd done so far, romance wasn't the way out either. She'd even had really out of the way interactions, like with Big Steve or Kyo. Those had taken quite a bit of effort to cause, but they hadn't changed much. After all, she was still here.

She needed to try something new. Though options were slowly disappearing, there had to be _some_ new path, even if it was only slightly different from a previous one. Now she just needed to find it. She'd start next week, she decided, with the initiation process, giving a slight nod.

"_Which spell would you use to protect yourself if I mentally attacked you right now_?" Grabiner interjected into her thoughts, slamming his hand down on her desk. From the rest of the classes' perspective, he hadn't even asked the question, simply smacking her desk then staring her down.

She barely restrained herself from casting Mindshield right then and there, but her lack of a Mana pool to pull from prevented her from using the advanced spell. Instead, she blurted its name out loud, confusing the rest of the class. Grabiner gave her an unamused look. "If you are truly bored of this class, you might as well leave now. I will not put up with your lack of attention. Ten demerits." Her eyes bulged for a moment. This had never happened before. What? How had this happened? She was completely speechless. Never before had this interaction occurred. She didn't even know that it was an option.

Maybe this would be the one. Maybe she could get out now. Or maybe the ten demerits she'd avoided had decided to come back to her. So much for keeping a clean record.

Either way, this cycle was looking to be interesting.


	3. September Ninth to Twenty Third

She reminisced. Why was this cycle different than all the rest? She couldn't determine anything that was specifically unique. It was just like all the others. She'd avoided running into Grabiner before without this happening, and she was relatively confident she'd gone to this class on the same day. It had to be some outside source. However, by definition, it being an outside source made it almost impossible to determine. All she knew was that she needed to be careful.

It was already the next week, and she had chosen a schedule of sleep, study, gym, gym, and study. Today was her sleep day, but having spent so much time at school resting, she could no longer just sit around. She always did things on her sleep days, though not as much as on other days. Right now she was sitting in a pool of sunlight in the forest next to the school. She flopped back down onto the ground, lying spread eagle and wincing as the sunlight pierced her retinas. She languidly cast a faint Darkness spell, dimming the dramatic amount of sunlight raining down upon her to the point that she could look up without being blinded but still felt the warmth against her skin. She basked in the light, content to lie there silently and curl up as her cat at home did when he found a satisfactory light beam.

Of course, her issues began to poke at her and she opened her eyes again, a frown marring her face. Earlier today had been the Freshman Initiation. With her negative demerits, she knew that starting Damien's path could get rid of them. However, when she'd seen that grin of his face, the façade that held back his inner demon, she had lost all control of herself. He'd asked her to stand and she stood, defiantly on her own. She knew he would shove her back down, and an evil thought entered her mind. As he yelled, "Down on the ground, freshman!" and shoved her down, she fell awkwardly. She went out of her way to fall painfully, trying not to catch herself instinctively, which made it easier to show tears from the fall; she actually did feel bruising along her side and her left arm, which she had tried to use to catch herself (but not really).

Acting the victim, she'd cried out in pain. "It hurts," she'd whined, struggling to her feet and staring him down with tears of pain in her eyes. "How could you do this to me? This is so cruel." She'd given a half-sob for good measure and stalked off, leaving shocked students in her wake. She sought out Professor Potsdam and informed her that she wouldn't be participating in the Initiation, though with less theatrics. She explains that yes, someone harmed her, and yes, switching to another senior would not satisfy her. Potsdam let her go with relative ease. Really, of all the people involved, she was the one who disliked this the most.

She knew that now she had no easy way to remove her demerits. She wouldn't be going to president or treasurer this year it looked. She took a deep, deep breath. She inhaled until her lungs felt fit to burst, held in the air, and then exhaled as loudly as she could. She breathed out worry. Speaking to herself, she murmured, "Mistakes don't matter. You can fix them later." With the stress pushed away, she turned to her side to sleep in the sun and drifting until a light sleep.

* * *

It was a couple hours later that she returned to her room, only to find her roommates looking at her with concern. Her heart thudded in her chest for a moment, as it always did, before calming down. She knew how to talk her way out of this. She relaxed, teasing her roommates, "What, is there something on my face?"

Virginia replied with a snarky, "Besides your nose?" She rolled her eyes and scoffed.

Ellen added her thoughts a moment later, voice tentative, "I can't believe you just… walked out like that." She glanced up before breaking eye contact to stare at her bed instead. There wasn't anything interesting on it to be observed, but Ellen sure did act like it was the most interesting sight she'd ever seen in the way she avoided eye contact.

"I did, so what?" She was somewhat sassy in her response, resting her hand on her hip.

Virginia, the more brave of the two, was willing to face her attitude and came back with, "William worked hard to organize this week, you know?" Virginia let an eyebrow rise, as if doubting her choices.

She let some of her genuine emotion leak into her voice, as it almost did when she spoke about that monster. "So what?" her brows furrowed, and she scowled. "I wasn't going to let Damien treat me like that." Virginia's demeanor did a one-eighty at the mention of his name, and so she continued, "Yes, Damien was my senior."

All the tension slipped out of Virginia's frame, her face relaxing into a grin. "Don't worry; I'll let you off the hook for that." Ellen, not understanding what was wrong with Damien, had Virginia explain to her that Damien was a demon.

With wide eyes, Ellen questioned with concern that demons did exist. The conversation moved on, banter being exchanged much smoother. Ellen mentioned, towards the end, how jealous she was of how she'd get more time to study because she didn't have to deal with initiation. Typical Ellen. She was so studious that it almost felt like staring at her long enough would cause osmosis of information. In fact, that had happened a few times. Sometimes she'd have a difficult question to answer in class and suddenly remember Ellen mumbling to herself about the answer.

* * *

The week went relatively smoothly after this. She was pleased to see that when she didn't alert everyone of Friday the 13th, Ellen would instead. She'd make a paranoid comment, and Virginia would laugh it off, explaining that it was actually good luck.

That afternoon, the campus was nearly empty for lack of freshman and seniors. However, she was used to this. It didn't much concern her that she was alone, unlike the first time it had happened, and she spent the time studying instead.

The time loop had done strange things to her magical capacity, and the time she spent studying was working to combat her lack of magic. Some years she came back with a huge magical capacity, and others she found that she barely had any. She knew that she didn't have a ton like before, as explained by the event in Grabiner's class the previous week. Casting spells within the time that was required of them took a certain amount of magic, but casting them without an preparation to do so took significantly more mana than when given the proper time to channel and shape the magical energy. She'd been unable to cast Mindshield on the fly, but that was normal. Most freshmen, and even most sophomores, couldn't do that. She would need to widen her magic pool of energy and her skills in order to do that from her current state. She spent the afternoon studying and setting up a schedule of future events in her diary so she knew what to be prepared for.

* * *

Saturday rolled around and she got a letter from her parents. She didn't have much attachment to them anymore, so she barely even glanced at it before dropping it in the trashcan. Nothing unusual would happen if she didn't respond to them about her experiences at 'boarding school,' so she figured she wouldn't worry about it.

The next week was notable because she signed up for Virginia's new sports club sign ups, and she was able to go to all her magical classes without being pointed out by Grabiner. That weekend she went to the mall and got her glasses. However, something peculiar happened. When she got the store and found the glasses, they were a different style. Though she likely seemed idiotic, staring at a pair of completely normal glasses for five minutes in the middle of the store, she realized that something was wrong. Not only had one major change occurred, but while this wasn't a major change, it was a difference from the other cycles. She wasn't sure if she liked it. She bought the glasses anyway, and Ellen made a nice comment about how they suited her.

Later that day, she encountered William tossing a ball up and down with red magic. Though it took major focus, more focus than it should have, she managed to keep it up in the air, let it fall, caught it, and sent it back up. She made this cycle about five times when she finally lost control. She gave a harsh sigh of irritation, but William commended her skill for a freshman.

* * *

With that, she transitioned into the next week. It was the week of the first exam. She figured her professors, specifically Grabiner, wouldn't appreciate her continuing to skip classes and went to all colors during the week. Ellen panicked about it, but both Virginia and she soothed her on the subject. Still, Ellen fervently studied.

She was in Professor Grabiner's blue magic class when he recommended the review session. Not wanting to make a bad impression, she decided to go, if only to make sure Ellen didn't have a heart attack while she was there.

Like always, he asked what kind of magic one would use to transform a lump of coal to a diamond. She felt like having fun, so instead of replying the common answer, blue, she instead said black. Black was more interesting to her than blue or red. She wasn't specifically attracted to black magic, but it always seemed to be the odd color out. It could do things that other colors could as well, but it always got second place as an answer.

Unsurprisingly, Grabiner sent Donald Danson away, and she wasn't very concerned. However, immediately after sending him away, she looked up and was startled to find his eyes were on her. He opened his mouth, paused, and then continues the review session, breaking eye contact. Her heart pumped erratically, unsure of what she just saw. Had he just singled her out? Was he considering sending her away with Donald?

She realized she needed to be much more careful with her behavior. Something was off about this cycle, and she needed to beware.

The next day, she made her way to the exam room at the appointed time. Prepared for teleportation, she knocked on the door and felt the vibration of blue magic overcome her. However, when her visions cleared, he stomach dropped out from beneath her.

She looked out in each direction in the room. She should be in a relatively small, grey brick room. She could blast the wall, reform the wall, or teleport her way out. However, the room she found herself in was drastically different.

She found herself at the beginning of a passageway. A faint Witch light, which she could recognize would go out soon, hovered behind her, casting shadows forward into a dark corridor. However, no light seemed to be farther in, so she couldn't see anything out in the void. She heard a very faint snarl in the distance, and her blood turned to ice.

This wasn't where she was supposed to be. This had never happened before. What was she supposed to do?


	4. September Twenty Third

She stood at the beginning of the corridor, the dancing of the light and shadows causing her to sweat and her vision to blur with anxious tears. The sudden realization that her vision was blurred snapped her out of her chaotic panic. There was no way she would allow herself to be reduced to tears. She took a deep breath of stale, dungeon air and let it out. She looked into the darkness resolutely.

She was a witch. She was well prepared for this. It was a challenge, maybe even a game. Yes, she agreed with herself, feeling her competitive nature get riled up, this is all a game. She was going to do this the fun way. Her challenge was to get out of here only using her most basic spells. She could only use spells that were less challenging than Farspeak. That left her with quite a few skills, still, but using them correctly would be a fun practice.

She would possibly be using Inspection, Spirit Sight, Diagnosis, Light, Tap the Flow, Farsight, Breeze, Track Scent, Silence, Truesight, Warm, Detect Charm, Empathy, Spark, Darkness, Trigger, Push Object, and Heal to get out of here. For more of a challenge, since she had Breeze and Track Scent, she wouldn't be using Spirit Echoes.

She first cast a Light spell, tracing symbols in the air with her fingers and conjuring up a small, faint blue orb of energy that radiated out light in all directions. It was relatively weak, so it didn't allow her to see very far down the pathway. Deciding to be reckless, she prepared a Farsight with her left hand while holding the Light in the palm of her right. Just as the finished casting Farsight, she reared her right after back and threw the ball of energy as hard as she could down the pathway. This allowed her vision to extend further. She was amazed to see that the path continued for about 30 ft. before cutting off.

Quickly conjuring another ball of Light, she used Detect Charm as she went down the path. She was talented enough with the spell that it extended a few feet in front of her as she continually recast it, and she continued all the way to the end of the hallway without issue. At the end of the hallway, the passage turned to the right. Again using a combination of Farsight and the Light ball in her palm, she could tell that down this pathway was a door. However, paths led off on each side. Careful as she continued, the made more witch Light and set off. As she got to the first intersection, she stopped before entering the area. She quickly cast a Spirit Sight around herself.

She wasn't alone. She couldn't tell much about the creature, as the spell was very simple, but it did not appear to be hostile. She had forbidden the use of Spirit Echoes, so she figured she'd just trust her instincts and continue down the hallway. She made it past the intersection without issue. She repeated the process at the next intersection. Again, there was a creature, but it ignored her and she went on her merry way.

She made it to the end of the hall. She pressed on the door, only to find it wouldn't budge. She traced out the symbol for Inspection on the door, only to find it locked. She couldn't help but sigh at the oh-so-typical roadblock. This would be difficult to solve. None of her red magic was strong enough to force through it. She couldn't use Open, as that was too high level. The rest of her magic was rather passive.

An idea sprung into her mind. It was a strange idea, and ridiculously dangerous, but it was equal parts excitement to its danger. A smile spread across her face as she planned out her next moves. She went back to the nearest intersection. Her light had begun to fade, so she renewed it and tentatively began down the turn, sending out a Spirit Sight after taking a few steps. She felt the creature now, and it was exactly was she wanted.

The creature was a Hodag, and it was sleeping. This was absolutely perfect for her plan. She took a few steps forward, moving very quietly. She cast Silence on herself, making her footsteps impossible for the creature to hear. She walked up as close as she dared, quickly casting Tap the Flow with her left hand and feeling the flow of energy enter her magical core. She didn't necessarily need the boost in power, but it made her feel more comfortable to use the spell right before a series of spells. Chain casting sometimes caused a backlash, and casting it made the magical backlash less likely. Silent and visible only by a faint Light, she conjured a Spark and threw it directly in the Hodag's face.

The creature was up in near an instant, but she had already taken off. A quick glance over her shoulders ascertained that she was being chased. The creature was furious. She made a quick turn into the hallway once more, conjuring the next spell while she ran: Darkness. She stood with her back to the door at the end of the hall, panting with exertion while she watched the Hodag crash into the wall opposite it before recovering and turning towards her. She reared her right arm back and threw the ball of Light directly in the Hodag's eyes, nearly blinding it.

It roared in rage, and she felt the vibrations of its screech down to her bones. It tore down the hallways towards her. When she could see the white of its eyes, she activated the Darkness spell. The area around her went pitch black. The Silence spell was still in effect, so when she moved from standing right in front of the door to pushing against the wall, the Hodag could neither hear nor see her. He may have smelled her, but that was a risk she was willing to take. As well, its momentum carried it into the large wooden door. The door hinges made a long, rusty screech before giving up and allowing the Hodag to crash through.

Beyond the door was a hallway that turned left, and the Hodag crashed directly into the wall in front of it. She quickly cast Diagnosis on the Hodag, detecting that it was disoriented and confused. She took this as her chance and tore down the hallway, finding the stairs ahead of her. She moved as quickly as she could up, laughing with euphoria. The adrenaline still pumped through her system. She had seen the whites of his eyes! The Hodag had been furious, but she'd still succeeded! She threw open the door at the exit to the stairs, wincing at the sun but too happy to care about the pain.

She closed the doors behind her and began to blink, her vision slowly adjusting to the bright light. She looked up from the ground after a few moments for adjustment, ready to see Professor Potsdam congratulate her for passing the exam.

Her excitement fell short when she realized the woman wasn't there. She glanced around with eyes squinted for the fairy godmother look alike. The woman was nowhere in sight. Even Potty Potsdam wouldn't leave a student alone like this after an above-level exam. Something was up. Well, something had been up since she entered the wrong exam. Now things were serious.

Her heart rate picked up with anxiety. Her imagination wanted to conjure strange ideas of where the woman was, but her brain told it to stop because she was already panicked. She didn't need ridiculous abduction or rapture stories on her brain as well. She stood in the sunlight for a couple more minutes before sitting down. She sat on the ground next to the door exiting the stairwell. She waited an additional few minutes, literally twiddling her thumbs. She sat with legs extended, rolling up her robes and hoping to get some tan on her legs while she waited.

Finally, she heard the resulting sound of teleportation and quickly rolled down her robe, shielding her eyes to the end of summer sun and looking up for where the teleportation was. She found herself confronting an incredibly stressed looking Grabiner. His face was flushed with anger, as it often did when he became upset. For a moment, she flashed back to a cycle long ago when he had held her to a wall, nearly threatening to choke her to death. She shook her head of the memory and tried to stare at the tall man without being blinded by the sun, which had chosen to position itself right next to his head.

"It's nice to see you, sir," she stated pleasantly. She had quite a few questions she wanted to ask, but she knew he needed at least a couple minutes to cool down if the problem wasn't her fault. If it was about her, then he would inform her via a mixture of yelling and growling. She braced herself for the storm that would result from his anger, hoping to get her answer on why this had happened.


	5. September Twenty Third to Oct Seventh

"So," she heard Virginia comment as soon as she entered the room, "how about that exam, huh?" She gave a playful grin. "How'd you do?"

"Pretty well," she answered as noncommittally as possible. "And you guys?"

"I blew up the wall," Virginia replied, her grin showing her pride.

"I just teleported back out," Ellen commented a moment later, and Virginia laughed. Ellen then asked the question she dreaded, her voice conversationally light, "How did you get out?"

She didn't want to tell them. However, she knew they would likely found out if she tried to hide the truth from them and be furious. She took a deep breath in and exhaled out the stress. For a moment she paused and stared at the ceiling before returning her gaze to the girls. "Well, it's a bit of a story." With that, she began the explanation.

* * *

It turned out that some of the advanced seniors and juniors who wanted some merits to get themselves out of the negative had been assisting the professors in regulating and teleporting freshman and sophomore students during their exams. This had, of course, been Professor Potsdam's idea. Grabiner vehemently opposed it, but she had overruled him. When she had gone and knocked on the door, a junior had teleported her to her exam. However, the student made a mistake. She was teleported to a different area. As well, not realizing that he had sent her to the wrong place, he had projected his voice into the room she should be in, not the room she actually was in, and explained what she needed to do.

How a junior was allowed to teleport her or how he missed that she was not in the right room was baffling, but somehow it happened. Immediately after, he had another student to attend to and switched his attention away from her. When he checked on the exam room a couple minutes later, he noticed she wasn't there. He assumed she had teleported herself out and forgot about her.

It was about five minutes after this that Professor Grabiner asked the student how the freshman girl was doing; Potsdam had just informed him she wasn't finished yet. He wasn't very surprised that the girl, who had already begun the path to a poor education and wasn't paying attention in class, was going to fail her first exam. The student informed her that she wasn't in the exam room. They both realized something was wrong. Grabiner asked Potsdam if she had exited through the stairway once more. She informed them that no, she had not yet exited this way. He immediately teleported himself into the room, saw she wasn't there for sure, and began to track her magically. He teleported to the dungeon she had gone to instead, tracking her path. He angrily stalked down the hallway. He'd set up this exam for sophomores last year, but all of the traps that were in here had been disabled.

Imagine his surprise when he turned the corner and saw an open pair of doors with an only semi-conscious Hodag lying at the end of exiting hallway. He stalked angrily that direction and found that the girl was not in the area and had not been so for a few minutes. The professor left, first scolding the junior boy and then informing Potsdam that the girl was out of the dungeons. Then, he went to where that stairway ended. She wasn't there. Then he realized that the dungeon she had exited had a complex staircase that changed between five separate exits on campus, some stairwells being easier to navigate than others. Two of them brought the student to a second dungeon. Of course, this meant he needed to check those first to make sure she wasn't still down there, and then he needed to check all the exits.

It was the fifth exit he looked at where he finally found her, already huffing and puffing with agitation. She wanted to ask why he didn't magically detect which of the exits she was at, but she figured that for her own safety, it was better not say anything. The teachers had no record of what she had done within the dungeon, besides the half-conscious Hodag unfortunately, but they did know she had succeeded and gave her five merits.

She was very, very tempted to tell them what had happened so she could get the extra five merits and make her balance neutral, but she realized that would bring suspicion to her. She opted for staying quiet, thanking her Professor, and going back to her dorm.

* * *

In the dorm room, the two girls stared at their roommate. She had seemed relatively normal in the time they'd known her, but they were beginning to realize just how ridiculous she was. It was Virginia who cracked first, shouting out, "A half-conscious Hodag? What did you do while you were down there? How are you still fine now? You barely have any magical ability!" She resisted the urge to feel offended by the comment.

Ellen's eyes were wide with amazement. She pounced, grabbing her crazy roommate's hands and commanding excitedly, "You need to tell me how you dealt with it, especially with such basic spells. When I encounter a Hodag, I definitely want to be prepared."

She felt the pressure to perform when she saw the twinkling of their eyes and took a deep breath in and out. Feeling more stable, she looked up at the girls carefully, "Alright. You win. I'll tell you," she raised her left hand, which Ellen had released, and pointed at them purposefully, "However! You need to promise that you won't tell the professors. Got it?" Both girls agreed vigorously.

Very carefully, she informed them of the strange dungeon, how she heard no instructions, how she was able to lure the Hodag into crashing through the door for her so she could continue. Her roommates were incredibly impressed. She continually downplayed all of it, saying that the move had been ridiculous and dangerous. Virginia could have just blasted the door, and Ellen would probably been able to teleport past it. She, however, had to put her life in danger just to exit. Grabiner might murder her if he knew how easily she put herself into danger. However, the two disregarded this, holding more respect for her now.

Virginia continued the conversation eventually and asked whether either girl would be running for treasurer. The ten demerits that Grabiner gave her earlier still lurked, putting her in the negative. She was magically and mentally exhausted and told the girls she would be heading out, though she didn't explain the reason she was leaving was to get away from people. She was too tired to try and be civil, but neither of the girls deserved her irritation.

She went ahead and signed up for classes. She, again, did all magic. As boring as the classes were, she knew she'd start getting on Grabiner's worse side for not going. He had no good side, really, unless you worked incredibly hard as the treasurer to create one. She only had the potential to be on his bad side, so she figured she'd rather be on the okay-bad instead of the worse-bad.

* * *

She got back to her room that day after a White magic class to see the two girls irritated by Donald's prank. She was relieved she didn't have to deal with him, and that the situation had played itself out without her. She didn't want to be mean to Donald, but she really had no interest in being with him. Besides, her opinion was that Donald should be with Ellen. She wasn't so passionate about it as to _go down with the ship_, but she did think they worked well together. They both shared a lack of family connection, and they filled the hole in each other's hearts.

The other girls were irritated, but she shrugged it off and continued with her week. On Wednesday, Professor Potsdam told them about the neutral pronouns, and on Friday, the issue of running for treasurer came back. The whole week of classes had set her stress levels high, and seeing Ellen acting uncomfortable and pressured broke her nice resolve to act normal. Without even waiting for Ellen to speak after Virginia left the room, she simply stated to her wildseed roommate, "Don't worry about Virginia. It's your choice whether to become treasurer. I don't think that William will much change his opinion of you just if you run for treasurer with his help, but if you'd like to try it, go ahead." Ellen's face went pale, but the words of advice explained, she took her leave from the room.

The apple festival was the next day, and she tried to study, despite knowing the high stress might make it difficult. She managed to pull it off by heading outside to study. The clear, fresh air allowed her to calm down enough to practice her spells. She made a mental note to schedule rest for the next week.

* * *

On Monday, it turned out that Ellen had decided to run for treasurer. Virginia was excited as she explained it to the third girl, and Ellen smiled at the both of them. Even though she was sure she wouldn't win, she would. That was guaranteed. After all, if she wanted it enough to run, she was certainly going to have her roommates voting for her. It seemed that whenever she voted for the treasurer between Ellen and Jacob, whichever she voted for ended up winning. She wasn't sure why this happened. Sometimes it seemed like the world revolved around her, but it seemed like everyone thought that way. It wasn't an issue that she needed to worry about.


	6. October Eighth to Thirteenth

A small note at the beginning: Thank you to Rachel Scavo. She reviewed my story and was willing to point out a mistake of mine in a previous chapter. I really appreciate it Rachel. Thank you!

* * *

When she signed up for class, sympathetic to her own dramatic amount of stress, she took two days to sleep before doing sports on Wednesday, Studying on Thursday, and Sports again on Friday. She really needed to take a week to relax.

After relaxing all day Monday, she woke up Tuesday to see Ellen get more stuff. She seemed intimidated by the large volume of badges to be spread among the student body, along with a few posters that also needed to be put up. She didn't wait for an explanation, standing up from her bed and taking charge. "I'll help you hand out these badges. Virginia's the tallest, so she can put up the posters while we hand out badges." The two girls seemed somewhat startled by how she took over the project. Ellen tried to protest the help for a moment, but Virginia had already saluted, grabbed the posters, and taken off to the hallway.

Ellen laughed. "I guess she was happy to get the easiest part." The two remaining girls smiled at each other for a moment before heading out to pass out badges. They did this for about an hour, and though the work was tiring, seeing Ellen's relief to have assistance with spreading the word was reward enough. After all, she was about to take the day off, so a little work in the morning wasn't a big deal.

* * *

By Wednesday morning, the beautiful chaos of campaigning had gotten into full swing. She loved watching students scurry around, how each person could collect together to make such an animated whole. All of her senses have been activated to their fullest extent with yelling teenagers, the heat of human bodies pressed against her as she moved the crowd, the vivid colors and sparks of magic in the air, the smell of burning magic from all these sparks, and she could still taste sugar on her tongue from when a candidate had been handing out small, sweet candies.

Seeing her from a distance, it was easy to tell that Ellen was so overwhelmed, but the energetic William was bellowing in her stead to make sure she didn't get lost in the crowd. It was easy to tell why Ellen would develop a crush on a wonderful boy like William. They would be cute together, even if she did prefer when Ellen dated Donald. Glad to see that Ellen was getting along fine, she squirmed her way through the crowd to head to the gym.

It wasn't often she went to gym class, so she was a little surprised when Kyo approached her to ask a question. She had experience with his relationship with Minnie, so she was wary to interact with him. He introduced the question, his face beginning to blush as he explained, "So, I have this friend who likes this girl. Only she's never really paid attention to him. So, since you're a girl, I thought that maybe you could tell me how to make a girl like me—my friend."

She was a little disappointed. How had a generally polite boy like this turned into the Kyo she knew? That Kyo was ruthless and cruel. This Kyo was shy and polite. When had he changed? She wasn't sure whether to give him good advice or not. Was there a way to prevent him to dating Minnie? It didn't seem like it.

"Why don't you—sorry, doesn't he just be honest with her? Girls like be treated like regular human beings. If he wanted to tell a guy something, he'd just tell him, right? Do the same with a girl." Kyo seemed a little doubtful of the advice.

"What if she turns me down?" He had apparently switched back into the first person, forgoing the awkward 'my friend' advice. She shrugged in response.

"You could ask someone else." She hopped that she could possibly discourage him this way, but instead Kyo frowned, upset with the answer.

"But I don't want someone else. I want her." There was the other Kyo, the Kyo who was ruthless and would stop at nothing to get Minnie. She would need to answer carefully.

"If she doesn't want to date you, you can't make her date you. A relationship is between two people. If only one person enjoys themselves, the other suffers. If you really like this girl, you shouldn't make her suffer." His face seemed stormy, so she added in hurriedly, "Besides, maybe she's just not familiar with you. Try to be her friend first so you two can become closer and know each other better. If she's comfortable with you, she'll be more likely to date you."

He seemed satisfied with that answer. He thanked her for her time and walked off. She let out a breath of relief. It seemed ironic that Grabiner didn't scare her these days, but Kyo could really intimidate her sometimes. She'd seen just how crazy he could get when it came to Minnie. She made a mental note to warn Minnie about him whenever she saw her next.

* * *

She spent Thursday studying outside again; content to lie in the sun while she practiced her magical spells. She thought about how to space her spells. She didn't want to make it seem like she knew more than was possible. She figured she could use all of her spells up to Slow. That would allow her really useful spells like Open, Enchant Object, Ward, and Farspeak. She knew she should still be careful. Once she got to the winter, she could relax more about which spells she used.

On Friday she went to the gym. She had fun loosening up her body and running around with other students. She always underestimated how relaxing sports could be sometimes. The rest of Friday was spent listening to speeches for the school councils. She didn't pay much attention, knowing already that she was going to vote for Minnie and Ellen. She didn't want to get pointed out by Grabiner though, so she made sure to at least feign interest. She and Virginia make sure to cheer as loudly as they could after Ellen finished, and she was pleased to see the happy flush on Ellen's cheeks when she noticed them. After voting, it wasn't a surprise to hear that Ellen and Minnie won.

That weekend, she decided to go to study. She questioned whether to go to the library, knowing that option was available to her, but she decided to relax outside a little bit longer. She could warn Minnie later, but the sun wouldn't last too much longer. It was already the beginning of October, and the days were beginning to shorten. Besides, she'd yet to personally meet Minnie. She might be surprised and less trusting of her advice if she just barged in.

* * *

On Sunday, the sports club got together to play. There was some tension when Jacob showed up and interrupted the game. Knowing what was going to happen, as soon as Virginia commented that Jacob could play, she cut in. "This club isn't about bounders, just to let you know. No magic allowed." Jacob seemed peeved.

"Why not? We're wizards, aren't we?" He responded, crossing his arms. She couldn't help but think he seemed so condescending when he did that. She was tempted to reach out and uncross his arms for him, but she figured doing that would be going just a little too far. Instead she took a deep breath to relax and answered him as completely as possible.

"We take kids from all grade levels and abilities. We have kids here who haven't even learned Push Object yet. It would be rude to restrict who could play based on magical ability." She smiled a moment later, going out on a limb with her next statement, "Besides, in the same way a player can't pick up a ball in soccer, we have decided that magic can't be used. It makes the game more challenging. Maybe later this year we'll open up games with specific spells allowed, but for now we're staying with non-magical games."

Based on Jacob's resigned response, she guessed that he was willing to surrender to her argument. He seemed irritated about being denied, commenting sharply, "Call me when you play a real game." With that comment he walked out. She was proud that she had convinced him to leave so quickly when usually it took a couple minutes of debate before he left.

They got back to the game, and she relaxed, having fun with the game. Sometimes all she needed was just to see how fast she could sprint from one side of the court to the other to let go and have fun. The respectful round of applause she got from other players when she managed to cross the entire field length-wise, steal the ball, and get a goal was reward enough for the pain in her side.


	7. October Fourteenth to Twenty Fifth

With Monday morning came Canadian Thanksgiving. It seemed like decades ago that she viewed the day as Columbus Day. It was with a small jolt of disappointment that she realized that it had, in fact, be decades ago. Well, maybe that was somewhat of an exaggeration, to call it decades. Decades implies multiples of ten, maybe up to a hundred years. It hadn't gotten that far yet, but it definitely had been more than 10 years.

As Virginia and Ellen chatted about the holiday, she quietly reflected, still curled up in bed. The warmth of her bed was soothing, and it was only that relief that was keeping the negative emotions at bay. It wasn't her fault that she was put in this situation, after all. The only blame she could put on herself was not being a puzzle solver and making her way out. That was hardly something to worry about. Everyone had their talents, and hers wasn't getting out of complicated situations. Her roommates commented on how quiet she was, and she quickly explained it away by lying about a bad night of sleep. Ellen offered a charm for better sleep. Her sweet comment dispelled some of the negative thoughts, though it was gently turned down with thanks.

* * *

After getting ready, she signed up for alternating Study and Magic classes: White, study, Black, study, Green. The week passed by surprisingly quickly. Usually these repeating magic classes were boring, but they didn't seem like too much of a bother this week. Maybe it was because she had taken a break between her magic classes and didn't need to deal with a chain of boring days. For whatever reason, it was already Friday afternoon before she knew it.

A soft knock at the door surprised her enough that she nearly dropped the book she held. Potsdam had recommended it to her students in white magic class, and she figured that she had enough free time to read. This knock was specifically surprising because she had been lying on her back, holding the book right above her face when the knock came. Rubbing at her lightly bruised nose, she slipped a thin ribbon in as a bookmark before answering the door. She was surprised to see Minnie, but she quickly reminded herself that this was the first time this Minnie had ever encountered her.

Her smile was serene, and it was calming to see that she hadn't yet gotten frazzled by Kyo. It felt like a flashback almost, seeing Minnie so relaxed. The Class President happily chirped, "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I was making rounds to invite students to weekend study sessions in the library. Feel free to come by any Saturday!" Only waiting long enough to hear a thank you, she exclaimed a parting, "Bye!" and hurried off to whoever the next person was.

For a moment, she reflected on how beautiful Minnie was. She thought about this in the most platonic way possible. There was something about the way she held herself, the way she lit up the room when she entered, the way her eyes crinkled up when she smiled that was just so beautiful and serene. She understood why someone like Kyo would want to own such a treasure of a girl.

A fleeting thought dashed into her mind's stage: once upon a time, she had smiled like that, walked like that, lit up a room like that. She quickly shook her head as if to dislodge the thought like an earthquake forcing the actor to fall off the stage. She decided that she'd head to the library sometime soon to warn the girl (and also decided to think of a better metaphor for her thoughts). No one should have the power to wipe that innocent grin from her face, especially not Kyo.

* * *

That Saturday, she headed to the mall and was able to share Virginia's ice cream. She'd luckily had the foresight not to eat anything. The ice cream was incredibly sweet, and it was relieving to just talk to Virginia. There was no purpose to the conversation. They simply chatted, making one another laugh and letting the topic flow wherever it wanted. Moments like these made all of the repetition bearable. The respite was very enjoyable, and Virginia had just the right type of humor to distract her from all her problems.

On Monday, Ellen began her next session of exam panic, exclaiming about how soon this second exam felt to the first one. Virginia teased her, telling her to prepare for being dropped into a pit of alligators. Though Ellen likely didn't feel the same, it seemed like an auspicious beginning to the day. The playful arguments between her roommates always put her in a good mood, probably something about the camaraderie and humor in it.

Hoping to give Grabiner a better impression of her, she chose to take Blue, Red, study, Red, and Blue classes. Being so close to another exam, she was sure to get flack for not choosing magical lessons. As well, considering she spent last week entirely with Potsdam, she decided to balance it out and spend this week with Grabiner. She preferred the previous week, definitely, but some things just ought to be done.

* * *

Monday and Tuesday were uneventful, and she was proud she had yet to completely fail in one of Grabiner's classes like the beginning of the year again. Grabiner was pretty demanding to his students; any lack of focus usually resulted in a punishment, some more harsh than others. Usually he stayed around five demerits at most, though the ten demerits early on were likely due to the fact Grabiner wanted to make a "good" impression on a new student. Despite her lack of interest, she was still able to concentrate enough to avoid his wrath.

Wednesday was another somewhat casual study day, and she headed over to the library for the first time this year. The first thought she had upon entering the room was about the crinkly, dry smell of books. She closed her eyes for a moment and just breathed.

For a moment, she just existed.

She just breathed.

She happily spent her day in the library, continuing to read the white magic book from the weekend. Some of the topics the narrator mentioned were facets of the magic with which she was unfamiliar. She was pleased that she'd have some research to do over the next couple of weeks to keep herself busy.

Thursday and Friday were the same as the beginning of the week. She tried not to get distracted, and Grabiner tried not to punish her for her lack of enthusiasm. It worked out very well in the end. Maybe this was more because of Grabiner's practice with bad students than her practice with boring classes, but she was dedicated to at least seem attentive. She played word games mentally to make sure she looked focused. She listened for a word that started with R, the last letter of Grabiner. Then, she'd listen for a word that began with the last letter of the R word. This continued in cycles throughout the class, and it took nearly all of her effort to contain herself from shouting in victory when he finally mentioned a word that began with X.

* * *

Her week had turned out surprisingly well, she reflected on Friday afternoon. She had quite a bit of fun this week, these couple of weeks in fact. From the smell of books to the taste of vanilla dairy treats, life had been kind to her for a little bit. She knew that she would crash eventually. Life is like caffeine in the way that every peak has its fall, so she wasn't so surprised when Potsdam asked if she could talk to her privately about her exam after classes.

"Professor Grabiner and I recently chatted about your performance in class," Potsdam began with, her cheerful face betraying nothing. Her student really had no idea where this conversation was going.

"As well, we discussed what occurred during your first exam." Potsdam began to look a little disappointed, or maybe embarrassed, or maybe even sheepish? The expression on her face was difficult to understand. "We decided…"

Potsdam could be surprisingly manipulative if she wanted to, she noted. Why was she throwing in all these dramatic pauses? The most likely answer was probably that she was just messing with her student. She seemed like the kind of teacher to do that goodnaturedly.

"…we'd like to give you the option of a more advanced exam."

Well, that was unexpected. The student just blinked at the older woman for a few moment, no response forming in the back of her throat. Potsdam simply smiled though, waiting for her reaction. After a few more seconds, the girl cleared her throat, "Well, that sounds fine." She tried to clarify her statement immediately after, flustered when she realized how vague it sounded, "—I mean, taking a higher level exam sounds fine. Sure, I'd like to try." Potsdam seemed pleased by this answer. She could only imagine her reaction and her speech about wasted potential that were almost sure to ensue if she were to have said no.

"Unfortunately, today your exam has yet to be prepared," Potsdam quickly commented, "...so you'll be going to detention! You have fun with Professor Grabiner!" With this, Potsdam took off to wherever her escape route was after completely flabbergasting students like that. The girl tried to whirl around and chase after her Professor, but the woman was already gone.

Well. This was going to be fun. It was only her second exam, and she'd already be taking time with Grabiner. She took a deep breath in and exhaled, but stress still welled up within her chest. This cycle was completely screwed up. She had absolutely no idea why, but something ridiculous had to have happened. Maybe that's what she could talk to Grabiner about during detention. She could ask what spells make reality seem so strange. Sure. She'd do that. While she was at it, maybe she would try out interpretive dance again. With that half formed thought, she headed back into her room to inform her roommates of the strange news.


	8. October Twenty Sixth to Twenty Fifth

I haven't done this yet, so I figured I should. Thank you to Rachel Scavo, RakeruNakama, MisaoBlossom, and LadyAkianess. I really appreciate that you were willing to take the time to review. Thank you.

* * *

It turned out that, because of exams, she had to go to detention on Saturday instead. Of course, Donald was there as well. The two of them chatted for a couple minutes while they waited for Grabiner arrived. Just when she was about to ask Donald why he was there, Grabiner walked in. She could nearly feel the stress radiating off the professor. He certainly was in a bad mood, a frown marring his face more than usual.

"Mr. Danson," Grabiner sighed, voice low, "What could I do that would make you stop ending up here every weekend?" Grabiner seemed tired, and she felt a slight flutter of sympathy in her chest.

Donald, on the other hand, just grinned like he always did. He shrugged, "I dunno." Grabiner frowned further, and she became worried about the professor. He seemed more stressed than usual, likely due to the previous day's exams.

"This is a serious question, Mr. Danson." Grabiner stated, his voice becoming even lower. She was worried about how this conversation was going to turn out. Grabiner seemed to be getting really peeved. "I require a truthful answer."

The two continued their back and forth until Donald finally thought of an answer. "If you climbed up on the cafeteria table during lunch, wearing a feather boa, and sang me Happy Birthday." Apparently, he would truthfully stop seeking detention if Grabiner did that. That certainly was Donald. Only he would say that, it seemed.

Grabiner paused for a moment, and she had a sudden flash of surprise at the idea that he was taking it seriously. "Your honesty is duly noted," he stated a moment later, and she realized that the pause was probably using a spell to check his honesty. The professor glanced over at her and noted, "I will show Mr. Danson to his task and be back soon. Wait here." With that comment, the two exited the room. She took a deep sigh of relief. Watching two people have an argument was never fun for her, especially Grabiner's arguments.

* * *

With the next few minutes of time free, she reflected on her white magic research. After she finished the book, she'd gone back, made a list of all the terms she didn't understand, and begun to research. She had begun to look into "out of body experiences", when the soul leaves the body. She imagined what it would be like, to have her soul just float out of her body someday. It seemed like a funny idea. She would be sitting in this chair and suddenly her physical head would fall forward as her body went unconscious and her soul fell through her body to the floor.

She quietly giggled to herself. It seemed reasonable enough, and some people even reported falling through themselves while moving. She would be walking next to Grabiner as he escorted her to her exam and _poof_, she'd suddenly fall out and her body would go unconscious. She wondered how much white magic Grabiner knew. Would he be able to put her back? Or would she just wander away?

She jumped slightly as the sound of the door opening, turning to see Grabiner. The smile fell off of her face. She wasn't necessarily intimidated by the man, but he just put her in a negative mood during detentions. He sat down somewhat heavily in the chair and massaged his temples. She chose to stay silent while he did this.

A quiet regret seemed to rise from her gut. She should be able to do something right now to help. She didn't know what, but she should. Once upon a time, she had been Grabiner's wife. They had both legitimately fallen in love. Those echoes of a lost love seemed to strike her, blaming her for not being able to help him. The regret pulled at her features for a moment as she just watched her exhausted professor. It was partially her fault that he had to be here. It was bad enough that she had to wake up early to come here; he must have woken up even earlier. How much sleep did he get? Why hadn't she asked these kinds of questions when she was with him? She had been so close to him once, so why hadn't she cared back then?

She stopped looking at him and instead stared at her hands, which were lying on the table. She clasped her fingers together. She imagined how once she had done this with Grabiner. They'd held hands once. She thought it was the most precious thing she'd ever seen when it happened to her. She had giggled immaturely, and he had let her, simply rolling his eyes.

She looked up from her clasped hands once more. When her eyes met Grabiner's, she suddenly froze. For a paranoid moment, she thought that he had seen her thoughts and knew. Oh god, he knew. Everything was going to go wrong, and it was still only October. However, the lack of any reaction in his expression calmed her. He was probably just watching her and somewhat confused by the emotions on her face.

They stared at each other for another moment, and she tensed, waiting for him to speak first. When he finally did, she was confused by the comment. "What spell were you preparing?"

What spell was she preparing? What was he talking about? She was just thinking, not spell casting. She tentatively answered, "I wasn't preparing one." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She felt stupid whenever he had that expression, like a little kid who gave the wrong answer.

"You may not understand what I mean when I say this," Grabiner started, as condescending as usual, "but I can tell that your magical core was fluctuating." It took her a few moments to process the strange terms in the phrase before the meaning hit her. Her eyes opened wide. Grabiner gave a partial smirk, "It seems you do understand what that means. Yes, when a witch's magical core is preparing to channel for a spell, fluctuations occur in the level of energy. Yes, I was able to see that happening. You were preparing to perform a spell." He looked at her again, leaning back with arms crossed. "Which spell did you want to perform?"

She sat there, dumbfounded and silent. She quickly combed back through her thoughts. She had been thinking about Grabiner. There wasn't anything she was actually going to do; she was just feeling bad about herself. She stared at Grabiner, unsure what to answer.

After a minute of silence, just telling the truth seemed like the best answer. "Well," she began, her voice almost a whisper, "I was just thinking… I was thinking…" her face twisted with irritation. Part of her was saying it was a horrible idea to tell him her concerns, and the other was saying it would be fine.

After some struggle, she finally forced out the words, "I was thinking about how stressed you seemed." Her face began to flush pink, and she was mentally panicking about how to make this seem as normal as possible. She wasn't interested in Grabiner this way, not anymore really, but she also wanted to say what she had been thinking without being idiotic. "I was feeling sorry that you have to wake up so early in the morning to deal with students. I was feeling sorry that I was one of those students. I…" she took a deep breath.

She inhaled until she thought her lungs would burst and let it all out, calming down. "I was sorry that I was inconveniencing you because you seemed very tired." She finally stated her thoughts. Completely having embarrassed herself, she avoided eye contact. "I wasn't specifically thinking about performing a spell, but I guess I was thinking that I should be able to do something to help."

He let out a sigh and answered, "You are surprisingly honest." The comment was enough to break her through her embarrassment. She turned to look at him, incredulous. He had literally told Donald a few minutes ago he could tell whether a student was lying. Of course she was going to tell the truth! She shook her head. Why had she ever felt so much concern for him? He was just ridiculous! It wasn't just him, though. This whole conversation was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. Even Donald had been ridiculous. This day really wasn't turning out her way.

Then the world did a one-eighty flip and in some order, these three events occurred: She became very dizzy. Grabiner yelled. Magic coursed through her.

After those three was the fourth event: everything went black.

* * *

When she awoke, she was disoriented and confused. It took a few moments for the world around her to seep in to her perception of the world. She slowly sat up in her bed, wondering how she had gotten back to her room. Her memories were a blur, and she vaguely remembering feeling a wave of magic crash over her.

It was when she looked at the calendar that she realized something was wrong, seriously wrong. The date proudly declared itself to be October 25. She had gone to detention on the 26th. Something was incredibly screwed up, and she didn't know what. Without any other idea of what to do, she got up, got ready, and went to class. The entire time, she chanted a mantra mentally.

_It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream._


	9. October Twenty Fifth to Twenty Sixth

_Alright, so maybe you've heard about how enthusiastic I was for my Spring Break. I was saying, "oh, I'll totally write all the time!". Yeah. Well. This is kind of late, and not really all that long. Turns out that, plot twist, I have to work while I'm at home. Work as in eight hours in an office for minimum wage. It went like this:_

_My parents: You're going to work!_  
_Me: No way! I will rebel and refuse to obey you!_  
_Friend staying with me: Actually I want to work and get money_  
_Me: NO! Half of my support is gone! And I can't act like a child in front of my friend!_

_...and so now I haven't gotten a good night of sleep in three days, and I'm just about ready to kill the people I love. Hopefully this weekend, when I won't be working, will be enough to make up for it. But on the bright side, I've got the next chapter planned out. Also, I have the next climax-of-the-story planned out too. Sorry for the short chapter, hope you enjoy, I'll try to update sooner next time._

_*Side note, I was seriously just about to publish this when my dad showed up in my room and told me my mom wanted to talk to me. I go downstairs, and it's family bonding time for the next two hours. I would have had this up sooner, but I couldn't finish my final read through fast enough to avoid life._

_(And P.S., I'd prefer if any reviews left for me that are going to be sympathetic and sorry for my stress are shortened to a line that says "I sympathize" and then continue with other things. That would be nice.)_

* * *

In Blue Magic class, she was significantly more focused than usual. Though she knew it was not the best coping mechanism, she threw herself headlong into her studies in order to ignore what had happened. While she usually just pretended to pay attention, today it took no effort at all to be interested. Any thoughts about her problems were pushed away; eventually she would have to figure out why she had such a strange… dream. Despite the fact the event was most definitely not a dream, there was no other way she could refer to it without becoming panicked. Instead of thinking and panicking, she focused entirely on her class. A small part of her hoped Grabiner was impressed with what she could do when she put her mind to it.

That afternoon, when she was back in her room, the knock at the door jolted her from her thoughts. Nausea rose up from the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it back down and went to the door. She tried not to let her anxiety show on her face when she saw Potsdam. Unfortunately, this ruled out the possibility of it just being a silly dream. Sure enough, Potsdam asked her whether she would like to take harder exams. The student was able to explain herself more clearly than the first time. With a comment about detention, Potsdam whisked herself away to who knows where.

She took a deep breath in, but the breath she let out was shaky. Her hands rose to cover her eyes. She continued to take shaky breaths. She desperately wanted to believe what happened was just a horrible dream, but the evidence was pointing towards something much worse. It seemed that she had done a miniature loop.

Quickly heading back into her room, she appreciated the fact that her roommates weren't back yet, a slight anomaly from the previous time. She lied in the middle of her bed, struggling not to cry. Her problem had been big enough when it was just happening at the end of the year, but now it seemed like it could happen any time. She had no explanation for why is happened and no idea what to do. She took regulatory breaths.

Breathe in, deep.

Breathe out.

Breathe in, deeper than before.

Breathe out.

She was able to stabilize herself enough to begin thinking logically. If she didn't know what set off the loop, she'd just have to carefully experiment. It was after Grabiner came back into the room after escorting Donald that everything went wrong. She'd have to be careful around then. If she didn't go back, she'd see the differences between the first trial and second trial. If she did go back, she'd look for similarities.

Having a battle plan formed made it much easier to relax. She was confident and knew what she would do, and any potential tears melted away without being released. She had regained control over herself, and nothing would stop her from fixing this. With that thought in mind, she began the wait for the next morning.

She tried to make as few variables as possible. She arrived at the same time, made the same small talk with Donald, and watched their conversation in the same silence. After Grabiner left the room, however, she knew it was time to get serious. The previous time, she'd ended up worrying about Grabiner and catching his attention with her emotion because, as far as she remembered, she had somehow been accidentally channeling magic for a spell.

The thing to change was the emotion. When Grabiner came in the room, instead of getting lost in thought, she'd just wait for him to speak. While not being the most patient person in existence, she could certainly last through the silence. Once he began to talk, however, she'd just have to wing it. There was no way to predict what he would say in advance if she changed the beginning of the conversation.

Her plans formed, she began the wait. Once Grabiner walked back in, she mentally prepared herself for whatever might happen. Her professor sat down heavily and began to rub his temples. Previously, she'd gotten lost in thought. However, today she chose to ignore his discomfort. Thoughts about his well-being were shoved out, and she simply stared at the older man.

It was a couple minutes later that he finally looked up at her. He let out a long sigh, and she tried to ignore the pulse of sympathy she had for him. "How much has Professor Potsdam explained to you about your new exam schedule?" he began, crossing his arms and getting right down to business. She mentally paused, told herself to relax, and tried to proceed as if this were any everyday conversation with nothing at stake.

"She explained that the exams would be more difficult but didn't say anything beyond that," the student quickly explained. Grabiner sighed, again, and she became slightly agitated with his stress. She wasn't in the mood for this, and they needed to get down to business so she could get past this conversation.

"Well then, I'll try to keep this brief," Grabiner explained. "The exams you will be taking will be more difficult than the average freshman student in the same way as, say, an Honors course. This means that by the end of the year, you will have already begun the average sophomore curriculum." She nodded whenever she felt the need to, continually assuring her understanding.

The professor continued, "You will be taking your exam this Friday. This will still technically be considered a practice exam, so you will not receive demerits for failure. If you do fail, you will simply be put back on the same schedule you had before. As well, if you succeed, but don't feel comfortable with harder exams, speak to Professor Potsdam." Grabiner paused for a moment before adding, "Do you have any questions?"

She thought about it for a moment. Everything seemed pretty clear, but she did think of one thing. "You say that the exams will be more advanced," she started. "Can you give me a vague idea of how much more advanced they are, or is that technically confidential?" She noticed his raised brow and added, "For example, can you tell me whether or not I will be going against sentient creatures during my next exam?"

Grabiner thought about it for a minute, lacing his fingers together without realizing it while he mentally debated the answer. She had a slight flash back to the previous try, when she had laced her own fingers together in a similar way. The action came tied with the memory, and suddenly she found herself thinking about her sympathy for Grabiner and how they held hands. She aggressively shoved the thought out of her mind, keeping a close eye on Grabiner to see if he had any reaction to her quick emotion.

Luckily, when he did reply, it wasn't about magical fluctuations. "I cannot tell you about the exam. However, upon entering the exam, you will be informed on any pertinent details, such as whether or not you may face a sentient creature," he nodded at her as her referred to her question.

She replied, "Thank you. That was the only question I had." She paused for a moment, and asked, "Is this all? May I leave now?" Of course, her semi-impatience wasn't appreciated by Grabiner. His face went back to its previous frown as he gave her the go-ahead. She quickly thanked him again before exiting the room.

As soon as she exited the room, she began to walk-run back to her room. It started out as a tired walk, slowly picking up more and more speed until she was almost running. She was still slow enough that she couldn't be accused of running in the halls, but it was essentially that. A few minutes later, she collapsed onto her bed. A breath of relief exited her, and she giggled. She had gotten out of the situation without being sent back again. That seemed to be and indicator that these cycles weren't eternal and could be exited. Tired from waking up early and mentally exhausted from the emotions she had put herself through during their conversation, she fell back into a deep sleep.


	10. October Twenty Seventh to Thirty First

The remnants of a foggy dream lifted, fading away from her memory. She vaguely remembered the feeling of drifting, but the details attached to the sensation were already gone. It was then that her mind suddenly connected to reality. She bolted upright, turning her head to the side to check her calendar. The calendar was right beside her bed for a reason, and she always scratched off a day ahead so that in moments like these, she would be reassured. Sure enough, it was Sunday, October 27. She gave a sigh of relief.

Remembering that she would take her more advanced exam on Friday morning, she began to map out her possible spells. She could use all the spells up to Slow, if she was remembering correctly. She scanned the next couple of pages in her notebook for any useful spells. Her notebook was a strange thing in that it was a substitute diary. She used the diary to record basic information, as it was intended for, but she used her notebook to make notes about earlier cycles, explanations for the time change, etc. It was heavily charmed, and she'd finally figured out a way to charm it so that if someone either triggered or dispelled it, it would send an alert to her mentally.

Within the spells she had written out, the only spell she could see herself possibly using during the exam was Teleport Other. With that in mind, she set up her week schedule mentally. She'd sleep on Monday and study Blue magic all the other days. However, when she awoke on Monday, things didn't go the way she planned. She had entirely forgotten that the Dark Dance was on Thursday night.

She figured she'd ask Grabiner about whether Friday would be rescheduled after Blue magic class on Tuesday and set up her schedule. Sure enough, after class Tuesday Grabiner informed her the test would be taking place that evening instead. She figured this wasn't too much of an issue, and it gave her the opportunity to sleep in.

It was Wednesday when she was walking back to her room and ran into Ellen; they chatted on their way back to the room. The topic of Halloween came up, and Ellen lightly asked, "So, do you think you'll ask anyone to the Dark Dance?" She smiled mischievously, realizing all the potential for teasing Ellen that could occur right here.

"Nah, I'm not too romantically interested," she replied to her fellow wildseed. "However, did you have anyone in mind?" Her smile widened, "Maybe a certain senior?" Ellen blushed furiously, and her roommate just giggled. "Don't worry, I'm not against the idea," she soothed, somewhat pleased in her teasing. "It could work out pretty well; you can just say that you're a wildseed and don't entirely understand the dance, and if things go wrong, just make it friendly."

The two girls continued to talk about it on their way back to the room. Knowing that Ellen would never work out with William made her feel guilty for pushing her on, but trying to dissuade Ellen would just make things worse. She would just encourage her and be ready to catch her when she fell.

* * *

It was on Thursday at the Dark Dance, and the trio of Horse Hall girls entered together. She entered the room, her senses filling with pine and gentle music, and she spent some time dancing across the floor. However, after only a few minutes, she exited the building. With the room being so dark, the voices overlapping, and the disorienting nature of the dance, no one really noticed as she made her way outside. She really did enjoy the dance, but she almost never avoided required meetings. The change in her exam schedule made her feel spontaneous and out of the systems control; she loved that feeling of being above all others in control of her life, and it motivated her to leave the dance before it had finished. It was a nice change of pace every once in a while to skip events. She headed outside, feeling the chill autumn air.

She went to her warm-weather study spot, breathing in crisp air. Something about this night made her feel truly alive. The pine still lingered in her senses, and she could almost still hear the crunch under her feet as she walked. She stood facing away from the school buildings. It was then that things began to twist out of her control.

_She felt her mind slipping away from her, as if she were falling asleep. Slowly, her arms rose to the sky. There her body froze, arms extended and eyes gazing towards the stars. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing or why, but it just felt like the right thing to do. Her eyes slowly slid closed. Normally she would have panicked, but in her strange state, her emotions had been paralyzed as well._

_In a rush, she found herself jerked around, like a sock thrown into the wind. She dizzily tried to reorient herself, but her sense of orientation was giving her signs all over the place. The state seemed strangely familiar, but it felt familiar in a Déjà vu kind of way. Her senses weren't returning any recognizable information, and after suddenly realizing her eyes had been clenched tightly closed, she slowly relaxed her clenched face and let her eyelids open._

_There she was. Or, her body was there. On the grass beneath her feet, she saw her own body. The body lied there on its back with its arms sprawled upwards. The eyes had closed, but they still seemed to be oriented up. She suddenly recognized where she had felt the sensation before; last night, she dreamed about this sensation. It wasn't specifically this event, but the feeling of being free from her body and able to fly had haunted her dreams._

_She gazed to the stars again. The panic she expected to feel wasn't worrying her, her feelings distilled as more of an observer than an active participant. She began to walk back to the party, wondering how far she could get from her body without trouble. She had expected to see an ethereal connection to her body in the form of a chain or a rope or even just a ribbon, but none had formed. That was a bit worrisome, and she made a mental note to check that out later._

_The way she walked wasn't the same as in her body either. Her strides stretched further than usual as she partially glided over the ground with each step. In this way, she went back to the dance faster than she had left. She entered the building through a side door and found herself face to face with a creature._

_She vaguely remembered its name but couldn't remember from where she knew it. As she stared at the creature, the word slowly came back to her. It was called a Jogao. She remembered being scolded for trying to see the spirits during the dance, and Potsdam had casually mentioned the name. She'd gotten a lot of Portuguese results in her attempt to research Jogao while as home, and though Jogo meant game in Portuguese, somehow the word Jogao was connected to dance? She didn't entirely remember._

_It had taken a ridiculous amount of guesswork and research for the creature when she finally found "Candomblé," an indigenous Brazilian religion. The word itself meant "dance in honor of the gods," so she figured she was on to something. The religion believes in one main God who manifests itself into many forms. The spirit was called "Orisha" or "Orixa" depending on which way the translator chose to spell it. There are countless Orishas, and they are all different._

_The spirits she noticed as she glanced around the room were, in fact, all individual. She wasn't surprised that they appeared to be African considering the religion that mentioned them was based mostly on African beliefs. When she had entered the room, the spirit nearest her immediately approached her. The spirit appealed to be male, and he wore a sheet of cloth tied at his left shoulder, loosely draping down. It reminded her of a toga in some ways, but it was entirely different in the fact that it was richly decorated with red, white, and gold. As well, he wore jewelry, with bands around his upper arms and ankles, and a glorious crown upon his head. He stared straight at her, and she expected to feel the blinding, white light, like when she'd used Spirit Sight. However, she felt no fear at the idea. Her emotions were all out of whack for some reason. She knew she would be attacked and was resigned to it._

_Contrary to what she expected, he held a hand out to her. She glanced down at his palm, slightly confused, and lightly placed her hand in his. He excitedly tugged her out on to the dance floor and into the middle of the fray. They soon began to dance, and the disorienting feelings that usually occurred while dancing never appeared. Everything felt natural to her, and she relaxed. She could feel souls resonating around her, and each seemed to be a light, energy pulsing out and overlapping with other ripples of light. The dancer's emotions washed over her in waves, and she laughed in glee. The spirit smiled wide as well, pushing her to dance on her own or with others._

_Soon she let herself go, relaxing into dancing with the figures around her. She could recognize those she danced with because her spiritual eyes could see what her physical eyes couldn't. After a few minutes, she noticed Virginia dancing with many students, representing each dorm and gender. The girl had always been very anti-discriminatory, so her lack of judgment in dancing partners and the darkness of the room made it very easy to believe she was dancing with such a myriad of people. When she tried to spot Ellen however, she came up with a blank. She might ask about it later, but it didn't seem like so much of a problem as to immediately try to find her. They could talk about the dance tomorrow morning or later._

_It wasn't long until she tired; being in this strange state away from her body was beginning to wear on her mentally. She signaled to the first spirit she met that she would be leaving. He moved towards her, stopping her before she exited through the side. He passed her a bracelet of small beads. Barely glancing at it, she thanked him for the gift and for allowing her to dance. Before she left, he tugged her forward into a kiss on the cheek. She didn't understand the meaning but decided it was probably some cultural thing, so she just exited the dance and waved goodbye._

_She headed back to where her body was located and was distantly pleased to find that no one had noticed it was passed out cold on the ground. That did seem like somewhat of a problem in general, but it was relatively convenient in this situation. Gently reaching out a hand, she instinctively touched her body in an attempt to go back. She was overcome by the feeling of being spun through the air, and everything went black._

As the inky dark faded from her mind, her consciousness slowly spread to her surroundings. She could feel the tickling grass beneath her arms and legs, and the wind blew across her brow, slightly ruffling the hair at her forehead. Her eyes opened, and she found herself on the ground. The blackness couldn't have lasted for more than five minutes, and her consciousness began to regain its fuzzy focus on the world.

Suddenly the memories hit her.

Her heart raced with panic, and she sat up quickly, only to lie back down moments later from the disorientation of blood rushing from her head. As she took deep breaths and rubbed at her temples, trying to calm herself down, she heard a faint _click_ at her side. When she glanced to the ground beside her, she saw a glint of something.

The small band had slid to the ground beside her when she'd made the sudden movement. It was surprising that the beads she'd had in a spiritual state were actually real. As a witch, she began thinking of how the white and black magic would need to interact for that to happen, but she decided that this was way beyond her expertise. When she picked it up and examined it, she found that it was made of small, white and red beads. The smaller beads were interrupted by larger beads and cowrie shells. She slid the bracelet on to her wrist, smiling at the gift.

The panic that had filled her heart seemed to fade, the courage to continue and face her fears replacing it. The same sensations of the dream-like spiritual state came back to her, letting her relax and approach the events at a distance. The item somehow seemed to change her emotions. Though she wasn't a big fan of being manipulated, especially mentally, at the moment she appreciated it. Panic was trying to swallow her whole, and she needed to put some time between her and the experience so she could relax about it when the time finally came to process what had happened. Smiling at the thoughtful gift, she headed back to her room.

Ellen already seemed to be asleep in bed, so she silently tiptoed her way through the room. She decided she would follow her roommate's excellent example and sleep right away. Slipping into bed, she noticed how the beads on her wrist radiated slight warmth, heating her wrist comfortably. The feeling reminded her of siting near a fire, just far enough away not to be burned. Letting the bracelet's magic run through her, she left the soothing feelings pull her deeper. She could afford to push-off evaluating events until tomorrow, her thoughts persuaded. Letting the evaluation of the experience wait until a better time, she slipped from consciousness and fell asleep.


	11. November First

_To make up for the lack of chapters for that few days, here's another chapter._

_You get a chapter, and you get a chapter, and you get a chapter! Everyone here gets a chapter! And if you look under your chair, you'll find a link... to a brand new chapter! (__I love Oprah jokes so much.)_

* * *

She awoke on Friday morning, completely content. The bracelet's effects made sure she slept peacefully for a full eight hours, preventing any emotional distress. Realizing that she would need to go to her exam later, she knew she had to get down to business and write down the previous day's experience. With a graceless roll and flop, she was soon at her desk and scribbling down all the details she could remember of the out-of-body experience in her notebook. After recording everything, she began to try to figure out why it had all happened.

First, the sudden urge to go to that place. She figured that this connected to Second, how it had happened. Her first explanation was possession or will. Maybe someone, or something, had pushed her to be there than done something to push her soul out. Her second explanation was that she had somehow known what to do of her own accord, but that wasn't a fully formed reason as she didn't understand how this would work.

Third, what had happened when she was at the dance. This didn't seem like such a big deal in hindsight. She may want to do research on why trying to use magic to see the creatures was a no-no but going there as a spirit was completely acceptable. It seemed like an irritating double-standard, but she also needed to consider that the spirit thought she was one of its species or misunderstood. Looking back through her notes at its behavior, she suddenly realized she skipped a point. This was actually the fourth.

The real third was, why she hadn't seen a connection between her body and her spirit. Based on the research she'd already done, a chord connects the body to the soul when it's away. It's hypothesized that if the chord were severed, the body would be dead and the soul couldn't return. This obviously wasn't the case, considering that she was alive now. However, it was an important topic to research.

Fifth (she was losing track of numbers), what was up with this bracelet. Was it specifically for her, or did it also have effects on other creatures? So far, it seemed the bracelet removed fear and anxiety, replacing it with confidence and tranquility. She needed to test it and research more about charmed objects.

In the end, her list of things to look into was: magical possession, trance-like states, sudden O.B.E.'s, appearance of spirits (to others especially), lack of a spiritual tether, and magical items. It was a somewhat long list considering the amount of time she would invest in each topic, and she hoped she'd have more time later. Today was Friday, November 1, so she would have more time this weekend to do her research. Plans in place, she felt content to let things go as they were.

* * *

It was later in the day that she finally got her chance to test the bracelet's effects. She had entirely forgotten that during the Dark Dance, Ellen gets rejected by William. After hurriedly explaining to Virginia that Ellen had wanted to ask out William, not Donald, she turned back to Ellen. The tears running down her wildseed roommate's face gave her a somewhat rude, but hopefully helpful, idea.

She reached out and held Ellen's hand in her own, making sure the girl came in contact with the beads of her bracelet. "I know I suck at helping people, but just know that if you want to talk about what happened, you can ask us. We'll support you to the end." The tears on Ellen's face disappeared rather suddenly, and she held herself a little taller.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," she smiled, the traces of sadness gone from her expression. Deciding to change the subject, she figured now was a prime time to tease Virginia.

"So, Virginia," she started, catching her roommate's attention, "I noticed you dancing with a few different people last night. Any interests?"

Virginia scoffed, "I have no idea how you could see anyone in that darkness. I just danced with anyone who was around." She shrugged and continued, "Besides, I'm not really interested in anybody that way."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really, no one?" Her voice laced with sarcastic enthusiasm, she continued in a hushed voice, "Not even your favorite boy in the world, Balthasar?" Virginia cracked up laughing in response.

A wide smile stretched against the natural witch's face, "Nooo! I wouldn't be interested in anyone who can't stand the sunlight." Thinking about it for a moment, she added, "And no brainy types. Sorry, looks like I can't go out with you, Ellen." The girl in question just stuck her tongue out at Virginia, and the other girls were glad to see she was getting over the dance.

"Well, if you want someone less into books and more into sports, what about Geoffrey Armstrong?" she suggested again, and Virginia laughed once more.

"No boys who are in love with themselves!" she vehemently prohibited.

The girls continued to chat on for a few more minutes, and then suddenly the thought hit her. She stood up suddenly and shrieked, "My exam!" Looking at her surprised roommates, she gasped, "No time to explain! I should hopefully be back within the hour!" With only that, she took off to go to her exam.

* * *

Luckily, she remembered just soon enough to get there on time. Grabiner made no comment on how she was panting because of her sudden sprint there. After giving her a minute to catch her breath, he sent her down to her exam. No instruction were given before, and no voice echoed through the dungeon as she arrived.

As soon as she got down there, she noticed that she was in the middle of a four-way intersection. Finding the site suspicious, she quickly used Awareness to understand her surroundings. Information flooded her mind, and it seemed she was in the center of a cross. This seemed suspiciously like the fifth exam. She went straight forward and, sure enough, there was a chest. This was definitely the same.

Retreating to the center, she figured she'd try to find the fake Manus right away. She went straight down the opposing hallway, finding the locked doors. This seemed suspicious. If she was remembering correctly, the treasure chest across to the sphere so the sphere could be rolled to trigger the chest's charm. She smacked herself in the forehead for assuming the exams were the same. Clearly, there were some differences. Making a mental note to be much more careful from now on, she returned to the intersection.

As soon as she got to the intersection, she was surprised to find that the Manus had already moved. Knowing that Grabiner was likely observing her, she mentioned out loud, "Well, either Grabiner was lying when he said he'd warn me in advance or this is fake. Let's check." She happily cast a Truesight and wasn't surprised when the fake Manus vanished.

She very carefully walked down the two remaining passageways, casting Detect Charm as she went. On the first hallways she went down, nothing was there. This was probably the hallway the Manus had been in. Turning back around and doing the same down the last unchecked hallway, she found that there was some sort of charm at the end. She paused before she stepped into the area, noticing that the floor had an enchantment on it.

She had an idea. It was just to have fun, but she wanted to see what would happen. She returned to the chest, stepped behind it, and used Push Object to bring it to the middle. As she raised her arms and cast the spell, she suddenly remembered the bracelet. Slapping herself on the forehead again, she realized that she hadn't thought of using Inspection or Detect Charm on the bracelet. She knew, after all, that it affected anyone who it came in contact with. A simple Detect Charm showed that it had magical power.

However, the feeling it returned wasn't the same as she felt for the floor, she noticed. It seemed warmer, lighter. It almost felt like the same response when the spell was used on a wand. It suddenly hit her that the red and white beads may represent red and white magic. After all, white magic aligned with the spiritual aspect of the experience, and the spirit who she met seemed like that one spirit (she didn't know the name) oriented with dancing and fire within the Brazilian religion. Fire was magic, right? It was a stretch, but maybe it fit. However, it certainly wasn't passive, or she would have noticed it when she did the first two Push Objects.

She turned to push the chest into the enchanted hallway. She used a Boost Strength, if things went wrong, and layered magic over her body. Focusing on the bracelet and its possible red magic amplification, she cast another Push Object. To her surprise, the spell was drastically magnified. She expected just a slight help, but the power was completely doubled. The object moved two spaces, right into the enchanted area.

Without much light in the dungeon, she couldn't entirely make out what had happened. However, she heard the loud explosion and saw flames erupting from the ground. Slowly inching forward into the area, she slowly put together the pieces of what had happened. From what she could tell, the trap was a pitfall. The chest had fallen in, and the amount of pressure applied by hitting the ground was enough to trigger the charm, causing the chest to send out an explosion. The pit was somewhat narrow, and the explosion directed itself straight up, hence the vertical flames.

Pleased with herself and her choices, she dropped down into the pit, opened the chest, grabbed the key, and used her remaining green magic from Boost Strength to jump out of the pit. Whistling to herself for a job well done, she set forth to unlock the door and exit.

* * *

When she emerged, she was greeted by her cheerful female Professor. "Wonderful work!" she commended, assuring the girl she had passed with 10 merits and would be continuing the advanced exams.

This happily put her into the positive merits, even if it was only five. At this rate and with so many more exams in the future, she could potentially graduate with a full 50 merits. As well, Potsdam implied that Grabiner was impressed by the performance but wouldn't say it. Grabiner's almost-praise always made her heart glow a bit, and she would likely have blushed had she not worn the bracelet, which prevented embarrassment. Just as the student began to walk away, Potsdam caught her arm to ask, "Just a quick question: why did you try to put the chest into the trap? You certainly seem to have enough magic to use Transfer Charm or something similar."

The girl thought on the question for a moment. Answering as truthfully as she could, her response was, "Really, I just felt like doing something unique." Potsdam gave her a bright grin and let her go back to her room.

The girl mentally braced herself for her roommates and their impending wave of questions, and she set off towards Horse Hall. She smiled during the walk back, pleased with how the exam had worked out and already anticipating the research later. Excited to begin finally putting together the clues about why this cycle was so strange and why the experience had happened, a glowing warmth filled her, and it wasn't just from the bracelet.


	12. November First to Second

_Hey guys, sorry for the long pause in writing! I'm finally back at school. Updates will likely come a little slower, but hopefully not too much. __Also, thanks you guys so much for all the story reviews and follows so far! I'm glad you guys are enjoying it._

* * *

As soon as she stepped back into her room, she came face to face with her disgruntled roommates. Realizing that they needed a full explanation, she started from the beginning, explaining how she was taking a more difficult exam roster and how it connected to her first accidental exam. She teased Ellen for a moment about being jealous of her more exams, getting Virginia to laugh. From there, she was able to diffuse the tension.

Her roommates certainly seemed peeved about her sudden flight, but no one was too upset luckily. As she went through her mental checklist of things to do in the future, she suddenly realized there was something else to add. "Also," she turned to her roommates, catching their attention once more, "for the next couple of weeks, you probably won't see me around for a while."

"Why might that be?" asked Ellen. Luckily, she didn't seem to still be irritated about the lack of earlier explanation, her voice light.

"I'm going to do a lot of magical research. Mostly white magic stuff. And, in fact, I'll go do that now. Bye!" The words came out in a rush of excitement, and not waiting for a proper response, the girl took off towards the library. She only made it a couple of steps out before she realized she had forgotten her notebook. She made a 180 and retreated, grabbing her notebook and wailing out another rushed goodbye before setting off for the library.

* * *

She planned to spend the rest of today and her weekend in the library. Going down the list of topics in her hastily grabbed notebook, she started at Possession. She went through and raided the white magic section of the library, grabbing any book that seemed to even vaguely mention possession: _Creatures of the Otherworld, Medium 101, Overly Attached Spirit, The Last Hurrah, 10 Reasons Why Ouija Boards Aren't Just Toys, _etc. To say that she created a tower of books at her desk was an understatement. She, in fact, no longer used the table she sat near. That was just the place to put books she finished reading. Instead, she sat on an empty patch of ground without much traffic and piled the books around her. She, literally, built a fortress of books.

It was about 6 pm on Saturday that she heard a knocking noise against a nearby wall of books. She looked up from a biography, _Carole Lynne: Psychic in the Middle_, to find a girl with long, wavy brown hair and kind brown eyes. It was in this moment that she realized she had entirely forgotten to warn Minnie about her terrifying soon-to-be boyfriend.

"Hi," the Class President started out, throwing the girl a warm smile, "I was just wondering if you wanted any help putting back some of these books. The library will be closing for dinner time soon, so I figured you could use some help." The girl glowed in the eyes of her subordinate as the perfect Class President, but she shook her head in response.

"I've got special permission to stay here during meals, but thanks for the offer anyway," she replied. Realizing that she needed to warn the girl, even if it was a late warning, she started on the tangent. "Hey, I was wondering about what happened between you and Kyo."

Minnie's face flushed pink, and she began to blink rapidly. "Oh, uh, you know about Kyo?" she asked, something of a stutter coming through her words.

The girl just smiled in response. "I took gym with him a while back, and he asked me about how to impress girls. I've seen you two around campus together sometimes, so I was wondering if you were the girl he was asking about." Minnie flushed even more red, if it was possible, flushing from the roots of her hair down to her neck. She glanced around for a moment to check if anyone was near and sat down within the piles of books.

She let her voice drop lower as she explained, "You're right; he has tried to impress me. I think he is interested in me. And, I mean, he's not really a bad guy. I think I might say yes sometime soon, but I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about it," all the thoughts rushed out of Minnie in a whisper as she confessed to the girl.

The Horse Hall girl nodded throughout the story. She paused for a moment, trying to remember her previous experiences with Minnie and how the best way to go about this was. She opened her mouth, paused, and closed it again. She held up a finger, asking for a moment to collect her thoughts. Minnie waited patiently while the other girl stared up at the ceiling.

After a minute or so, she finally looked back at Minnie and began to speak. "I completely understand if you don't agree with anything I'm saying or ignore my advice, as we don't know each other very well. You can see by the volume of white magic I'm reading up on that I've got certain… connections. I'd appreciate if you didn't ask _how_ I know what I know, but I understand that you will likely disagree with me without evidence." After the preface was done, the Horse took a deep breath and began to explain.

"Kyo Katsura is crazy. Maybe you've noticed every once in a while, he gets a weird look in his eyes or says something really unusual. To quote my earlier conversation with him, he got somewhat aggressive when I suggested that if the girl he liked didn't like him, he should move on. Just based on that, I'd say he is a little too obsessed with whatever girl he's after. However, I do happen to know things beyond that."

She squeezed her eyes closed as she flipped through pages upon pages of memories, trying to remember specifics. "If you two start dating, things will be okay at first. It's The Honeymoon period, if you'd like to call it that. However, around… January, yes, around January is when things will get stressed. Kyo will always demand you to be perfect, which isn't something any human being can pull off. He will push you beyond what you can do. Jacob Blaising will try to help, but to no avail.

"Kyo will act unusual and mean. He will serenade you in public, completely embarrassing you and forcing you to accept. After all, what kind of girl says no to a romantic public serenade? You will begin to become completely stressed out around February, and by March and April you'll hit a breaking point. In April, Jacob and Kyo will argue over you and what you should do. Kyo thinks you're crazy for not going with him and that Jacob is manipulating you."

The Horse paused, opening her eyes once more and looking at Minnie. The girls face was pale. At least she seemed to be listening, though. Taking Minnie's hands in her own, she continued on more gently. "This last bit is me going out on a limb. I see an event, an event where the door to Jacob's room is lit on fire. It appears to be an accident, and Barbara will confess to trying out ninja skills in their hallway. She explains and shows them memories that a stray attack made the door go up in flames. However—"

Minnie interrupts, adding in a shaking voice, "Doors shouldn't just go up in flames like that." The girl nods, in response.

"Exactly, that shouldn't have happened. Now, I'm not confident in this, and I doubt Kyo would confess, but I believe that he is part of, or will be a part of, a secret organization on campus. They all work together anonymously to get revenge on those who they think deserve it, and I believe that Barbara was a part of the group. She didn't fully know what would happen, just that she needed to do it as a member. I think Kyo put in a request to have someone do that, and possibly set things up so that Jacob's door would catch faster than it should."

Noticing how nervous Minnie looked, she quickly added, "Jacob and his roommate will be fine after this. Nothing bad happens. However, it shows that Kyo might really be crazy. Like I said, this last part might be a stretch, but I'm relatively confident of the explanation."

Minnie takes a deep breath and looks the girl in the eye, squeezing her hands. "I know you said not to ask how… but how? How can I trust you about this?" The Horse Hall girl sighed in response but nodded as well.

"I understand the skepticism. It's good to not believe everything you hear. Alright then, let me try to think of something to prove it, something specific." She closed her eyes once more and thought back to all the times she saw Kyo, saw Minnie and Kyo, and saw Minnie. Then, the idea popped into her head. As treasurer, Minnie had come to her for help with Kyo and had explained everything up until that point in their relationship while explaining. The Horse Hall girl hoped the detail were the same between time lines and went for it.

"On November 9th, he will invite you to go to the mall with him, on a date. Based on the way I see it, you will try to refuse, saying you need to go to the library and help out, and he will become offended. You think it's your fault, not realizing the signs. He will come back that night with a gift from the mall, and you will apologize despite the fact it's not your fault."

"One prediction isn't good enough," she added quickly. "I'll tell you two more, just to make sure."

"During Duel Practice on November 14th, Kyo will shove between you and Jacob when you want to duel together, instead making himself your partner. Jacob will go with Manuel. And during the sale on November 23rd, Kyo will try to pressure you into doing other things with him. You'll try to refuse, arguing that you are responsible for the table at your time, but he will continue to pressure you. In the end, you'll have to ask the Treasurer to take over your shift."

Minnie sat there in silence. The Horse Hall girl gave a smile, leaned forward, and hugged the Butterfly Hall girl. "I know this is a lot to take in. Remember my predictions and come back to me after November 23rd, if you think I'm right. Just know that my door is always open for you. Alright?"

Minnie gave a shy smile and nodded back, mouthing a quiet, "Alright," in response. The Class President left, leaving the girl to continue her research. Sorry for Minnie's situation but glad that she was able to say something before it was too late, the Horse Hall girl set forth to continue her research until closing time.


	13. November Second to Tenth

Sunday went just like Saturday, passing with an incredible amount of studying. She entered as soon as the library opened, setting up her fortress, and not budging until closing time. She neglected to go to the bathroom or eat at all. When she got back to her room and revealed this to her roommates, they were furious, Ellen more than Virginia. Virginia had some food stored, so she ate that while Ellen scolded her.

She realized she wouldn't need a full week to study and would be sick of the library by the end of the week, so she signed up for all colored classes. Monday was Green, Tuesday was Blue, Wednesday was Black, and Thursday was Red.

When Friday rolled around, she was taking White. Having spent every evening for the last week studying White magic, she felt over-burdened with information and was ready to learn White magic outside of her research. She was surprised, however, when Professor Potsdam leaned against her desk in the front of the room, waiting for the kids to settle down on their own.

"Please, make yourselves comfortable, little cygnets." their Professor began, and the tension rose slightly in the room, no one understanding why she was saying this. Besides that, what was a cygnet? "We have a serious issue to talk about today," she explained. The class murmured for a moment before quieting.

"Many of you will have learned something about this subject from your parents. Others will know less, or nothing at all," Potsdam prefaced, and a girl whispered furiously to another student _Is this Sex Education?!_

"The world you see around you is only the tiniest fraction of all that exists. There are infinite realms which exist outside of our own space and time. The nearest such realm is that which we call the Otherworld. You may have also heard it called Elfhame, or the Dreaming, or the High Hunting Grounds. There are countless other worlds, but the Otherworld is particularly the realm of this world's shadow. Like a shadow, it is always connected. With enough White magic, an adult witch or wizard can travel the Spiral Gate from anywhere in this world."

"However, you students must not enter the Otherworld under any circumstances. Can any of you tell me why this is?" At this, Minnie's hand shot up. At Potsdam's glance, she stood and began to speak.

"Because the Kahmras feed on the souls of human children, especially magical children, and they are drawn to any unwarded human who enters the realm. It takes the approximately—"

"Thank you, dear, that will do." Potsdam interrupted. Minnie blushed slightly, but she smiled and sat back down. Potsdam continued, "The Otherworld is a wonderful place. Magic flows more freely there, and many witches and wizards choose to live there full-time. But we are not native to it, and we are not immune to its dangers."

Then she became incredibly serious. "Do not attempt to pass the Gate. Not even with an adult to guard you. Not even with a powerful spell or artifact to protect you. Not even with a friend who has been there before and tells you it's safe. Some of your classmates have other-than-human heritage, but what is safe for them is not safe for you."

Her face darkened further. "Most importantly, if a spirit invites you to the Otherworld, do not accept, no matter what you are promised. I am not saying this to frighten you, or to challenge you to find a way around my rules. If you disobey, I will not need to punish you, because you will be _gone_."

Suddenly, Potsdam brightened, giving the students mood whiplash. "Now! Let's get back to brighter subjects! We can talk about the Otherworld later, and I'll bring in some lovely paintings to show you."

The Horse Hall girl, sitting in the center of the front row, was able to see how the smile never reached Potsdam's eye. She felt sick. She wasn't sure when she'd started feeling it, but she could barely breathe. She raised a hand, asking if she could go to the bathroom. She kept her composure until she made it to the hallway.

Once she was outside, she bolted. Once in the bathroom, she leaned against a wall, breathing heavily as she slid to the floor. She was tempted to put her head between her knees, but her robes were in the way. Besides that, she technically wasn't hyperventilating. It was probably a better idea not to curl up and crush her chest while she was wheezing like this.

How had she never seen that before? Whenever she'd heard the speech before, she'd mentally filtered the beginning and left with the impression that she shouldn't go to the Otherworld until she was older. However, now that she listened closely, she realized she had a lot of thinking to do. She needed to figure out what sources she had brushed by because they called the Otherworld _Elfhame, the Dreaming, _or _the High Hunting Grounds_. Had she seen anyone mention the _Spiral Gate_? What about the Kahmras? They seemed similar to the Manus in her head, but she couldn't remember why. Had she seen the name before this?

Just the idea of completely and totally new information, information she should have seen in previous loops, was intimidating. To have missed so many ideas, all at once, was a mistake. However, she needed to calm down. To quote one version of Professor Grabiner, she wasn't expected to know everything, even at his age. Okay, that's not actually what he said, but when he said it to her he assumed she was young. Really, the idea should be that no matter how much time you spend learning, you can't know everything.

While she mentally debated, her body had calmed; her breathing smoothed out in even, deep breaths. She headed back to the classroom, settling down at her desk and furiously writing notes in the pale blue notebook labelled _White Magic_. She kept an eye on Potsdam, to see if Potsdam said something noteworthy, but she mostly ignored the class.

After class was over, she dedicated herself to transferring her notes into her official notebook. Her roommates gave up on talking to her during dinner, though they did create a scene when Virginia tried to shove a bread roll down her throat to make her eat. Grabiner had come over and scolded Virginia for attempted murder, which made the girls all laugh. Grabiner had legitimately _rolled his eyes_, which caused even more giggling. The topic held their attention for a while before Ellen and Virginia's crazy roommate broke off and continued her notes.

On Saturday she bolted to the library, her book piles growing exponentially. Virginia and Ellen dragged her out at lunch time, but they lost the battle at dinner. The piles had grown too tall for the girls to even find their roommate, so they instead decided to bring her food back to their room.

The joke was on them, though, when she got the key from the librarian and locked herself in overnight. Virginia furiously banged on the door, and Ellen attempted to use an Open spell. However, the large oak door was enchanted too well for a freshman's magic to make it through, even Ellen's, and Virginia's method of destroying it wouldn't be taken well by the teacher; so she successfully hid in the library through the night.

When Sunday morning rolled around, and the library opened, Ellen and Virginia stormed in. Both girls were furious not only for their roommate's blatant disregard for her own health; they were on a war path for having to deal with her. They had already been to Potsdam, who had neglected to take any action, and they were just about ready to ask Grabiner to knock her unconscious to sedate her.

However, when they entered, they were greeted by an empty library. The huge stacks of books were already gone, each book returned to its place. They scurried around, checking behind desks, under tables, but she wasn't in there anymore. The two ran around campus, checking their room, the cafeteria, the classrooms. As they searched, they spread the word, hoping someone had seen her. No one had, but the news spread by word of mouth, and soon her disappearance was a hot topic.

She was nowhere. No one could find her.

* * *

[_An Excerpt from the Notebook_]

**Possession**-

-spiritual influence isn't possession, but is last hurrah

-some people are susceptible for recent

-evil attracts evil (x)

-Ouija board, to attract spirits, any spells, some people leave body during (!), drugs, haunted locations (!)

-attached spirit, follows living, not ill will usually, similarity causes connection, can be released

Interesting: an influence to do something, spirit attracted by spell, haunted place, attached spirit. Last hurrah doesn't seem true, and body didn't seem to do anything while I was gone. Shouldn't I have seen nearby spirits like the dance? Doesn't seem likely, pause research, trances can be skipped.

**Sudden OBE-**

-signs of having OBE, rushing sound, paralysis, vibrations (vibrations related to energy conduction, less with more ability)

-spiritual guides

-mostly from sleep (x)

Interesting: Spiritual guides, help leave body?

**No Tether**-

-most people see the tether

-can take different forms

-tether disappears when you're dead (x)

-prevents getting lost, might pull back

Interesting: Nobody seems to mention this. Is this a new idea?

**Seeing Spirits**-

-First Source mentioned S.O.B.E.'s

-OBE into ethereal realm, that's where ghosts go (?)

-religious ascension, spirit guides who are ascended try to help those who aren't (?)

-spirits may try to pull people out to help, good intentions

Interesting: Spiritual Guides, this has come up a couple of times

**Magical items-**

-quite a few sources believe magical items exist

-change frequency, change level of existence

-Jesus could do this? Briefly mentioned, manifest items from high vibration

-most people say no, doesn't happen

Interesting: this is an acquired ability, possibly the spirit made it physical for me?

**S.O.B.E.**-

-related to panic attacks (x)

-sudden involve shock, trauma, strong emotion

-for chord, source mentioned that the cord isn't seen as often as research suggest

-Story mentioned: person had spontaneous OBE, was confused, found random object with them that hadn't been there before (it didn't transfer back to life)

Interesting: story seem the most similar to mine I've seen, of it just happening

**Spiritual Guides**-

-also guardian angel

-mostly just send signs and intuition

-trying to call guide, sometimes call other spirits

-guides help with goals you made before you incarnated (?)

-guides are kind, other spirits may not be, if you get negative it isn't a guide

Interesting: it seems more like just a random spirit than a guide

**Conclusion**-

It's likely that some spirit decided to try to take over. Ey managed to push me out of my body, but they couldn't take it over. I went and traipsed around, and it left. I returned without trouble. The spirit may be attached to the place. If research is to be continued, it should focus on other stories like mine.

**Extra Note**: _My Tale of Self-Discovery_ by K. C. Eweng: Try to find the sequel, ask the librarian.

* * *

As she stood above the campus, trying to ignore the fact that she was levitating, the partial chaos of the search seemed equal parts unfortunate and hilarious. The part that was unfortunate was the emotional turmoil her disappearance had caused. The part that was hilarious was that no one had thought to use Spirit Sight yet to find her, considering she was standing right up her in broad daylight.

She wondered whether they would find her body or not, considering her mistake. She paused for a few more minutes, disappointed when she saw no progress in their search. Deciding that her potential saviors were taking too long, she began to drift through the air in search of her body.


End file.
